The present invention relates generally to the field of sports equipment storage and transportation, and specifically to a backpack-type bag useful in carrying and containing soccer equipment.
The game of soccer (known as xe2x80x9cfootballxe2x80x9d outside of the United States) is one of the most popular sports in the world. In recent years, soccer has enjoyed a tremendous growth in popularity in the United States as well. Part of the appeal of the game of soccer is that little equipment is required to play it. At a minimum, a soccer ball, a relatively flat open field, and some means of marking the goals will suffice. In practice, however, soccer players generally utilize additional equipment, including cleated shoes and shin guards, in addition to a uniform comprising a shirt, shorts, and athletic socks. Like many athletes, soccer players may additionally carry such accoutrements as a water bottle, a towel, bandages, sweatbands, sunglasses, and the like.
A wide variety of containers for storing and transporting this equipment is known in the art, including duffel bags, shoulder bags, backpacks, and the like. These prior art sports equipment storage and transportation containers are deficient in a number of ways. Most of them are of fabric or plastic construction, and are hence opaque. Thus, a player cannot tell at a glance what equipment is in the container, or alternatively if desired items are missing. Many prior art sports containers also lack sufficient internal structural integrity to retain their shape absent a fill load of contents. Thus, when the major articles of equipment have been removed from such containers, they collapse into an untidy heap, making it difficult to retrieve additional items or to insert equipment back into the container. Those prior art containers that do retain their shape when empty are often bulky and take up considerable storage space even when they are not storing equipment.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a soccer equipment storage and transportation bag that readily displays its contents, is compact and lightweight, and retains its shape when empty and in use but folds into a compact size and shape when empty and stowed.
The present invention entails a sports equipment bag that comprises a back and a bottom. Two pliable and flexible panels are secured to both the back and bottom and extend from the bag to form the sides and front of the sports equipment bag. As the panels extend from the back towards the front, they at least partially overlap and form an open top that is generally defined by the back and upper edges of the two panels. Thus, equipment and objects can be deposited downwardly through the open top of the bag into a holding area defined by the bottom, back and two pliable panels. In one particular embodiment of the present invention, the two pliable panels include two mesh panels. In this case, the two mesh panels extend from opposite edges of the bag and are secured along a lower edge to the bottom. About the front of the bag the two mesh panels overlap, at least partially. In some embodiments, the upper edges of the two mesh panels which tend to extend diagonally across the front of the bag and crisscross in the process, can be provided with an elastic member of structure that permits the upper edges of the mesh panels to be stretched, thereby to enlarge the open top of the bag if required.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and obvious from a study of the following description and the accompanying drawings that are merely illustrative of such invention.